Tomatoes? Good. Basil? Good. Mozzarella? GOOD!
Ahh, September. The month of back-to-school supplies, new seasons of our favorite TV shows, and lots and LOTS of summer tomatoes.
As we Pennsylvanians know, a good tomato is a thing of beauty. And luckily for us, local farm stands are practically drowning in tomatoes this time of year. Un-luckily for us, though, the beauty of a perfectly ripe tomato only lasts a few months of the year.
That’s why we’ve got to enjoy the ruby red goodness while we can!
Enter: tomato basil pie. It’s like pizza, but with a fresher, gourmet twist. I have a delicious recipe that’s wonderful for entertaining — because the end result looks a lot fancier than the work involved. (I won’t tell if you won’t!)
(Recipe from The Food Network)
Ingredients
Flour, for dusting work surface
1 (9-inch) ready-made refrigerated rolled pie crust
3 large ripe tomatoes, sliced ¼” thick
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
½ cup chiffonade basil leaves
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line your baking sheet with parchment paper. If you have a pizza stone, you can use that instead.
Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour. Roll out your pie dough until it’s about 10 inches in diameter and place it on the baking sheet.
Place alternating slices of tomato and mozzarella onto the pie crust, overlapping as needed so that all the slices are used. Start in the middle and work your way out in a circular pattern, leaving a 3-inch border at the edge.
Sprinkle the basil leaves on top and add salt and pepper.
Fold the 3-inch edges of the dough inward over the filling to create a pleated crust. (Click here to see an example.) Brush the edges and top of your pie with olive oil.
Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the pie sit for a minute or two. Move to a cutting board, slice, and serve.
We’re always up for getting our Julia Child on and talking recipes. Call us at 717-747-3099 or click below — we can share plenty more!
